U18s stretch unbeaten league run to eight games with victory over Burnley

Gueke and Motsi’s strikes both came in the first 30 minutes before Dylan Morison got one back for the visitors.

The second 45 was a much quieter affair, despite being submitted to a numerical disadvantage as Rafa Stewart was shown a second yellow.

Tireni Aiyegbusi came close to adding a third, but we secured all three points without needing that extra strike on another eventful afternoon at the CFA.

WHAT HAPPENED 

On a chilly Halloween afternoon at the City Football Academy, the young Blues returned to Premier League Under-18 action hoping it would be us securing a treat and not a trick. 

And it would be us providing a fright for Burnley as Gueke’s screamer of a shot, from range, hit the underside of the crossbar and past Feeney.

It was great work on the cut-back from Ethan Fullen, who earnt his first start under Lauris Coggin, and City were in cruise control. 

Tireni Aiyegbusi thought he’d doubled our advantage after a cross from Timeo Whisker, but the effort was ruled offside. 

Darren Motsi would eventually be the one who would secure our second moments later with a cool, calm and collected finish. 

City continued to press in the second-half with Club legend Pablo Zabaleta watching on, but Burnley would pull one back direct from a corner. 

The game subsided into a quiet head-to-head before the Blues went down to 10 as Rafa Stewart was awarded a second yellow card. 

It would turn into a tense atmosphere as we looked to protect our unbeaten start to the season, but despite attempts from Tireni Aiyegbusi to see us out of the woods, the Blues’ youngsters would secure another three points.

HOW WE LINED UP

City XI | Vickery, Stewart, Thornton (C), Lawrie, Barrett (Turley 60’), Gueke, Fullen (Aina 60’), Carrington, Aiyegbusi, Motsi, Whisker

Subs | Smith, Mathiesen, Nwachukwu, Indequi, , Plummer

Burnley XI | Feeney, Da Costa, Murwira (Oyebanjo 60’) Oshodi, Best, Morison (C), Huggett, Leonard, Taylor, Lewis, Borgesson

Subs | Lo-Tutala, Momoh, Pountain, Mmakogu, Wade, Anipa

AS A RESULT 

City continue to sit top of the Under-18 Premier League North table on 24 points, with only our cross-city rivals Manchester United as our closest challengers after securing 22 points so far.

UP NEXT 

We face the Clarets again in seven days when we travel to Burnley on Saturday 7 November, with kick-off set for 11:00 (UK).

The game will be available to watch live on mancity.com and the Official Man City App for fans with a CITY+ subscription.